


Moonlight

by ForensicSpider98



Series: Light [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adam is dead, Canon Compliant Season 7, F/M, I'm Sorry, If You Squint - Freeform, If you want - Freeform, M/M, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, Post Season 7, Voltron Crew bonding, allurance, basically some feels, klance, pre-Season 8
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-10-03 06:28:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17278796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForensicSpider98/pseuds/ForensicSpider98
Summary: “Understand, Allura. All life is precious. All life is beautiful. And no matter how flawed, all life is worth your consideration and notice.”





	Moonlight

**Author's Note:**

> Come back tomorrow for Starlight!
> 
> The poem is "Evening Star" by Edgar Allen Poe

“Hey, Allura.” Allura whirls around.

“Lance. Hello. Is there something you need?” The boy shifts uneasily.

“Well, no. Um. Maybe? I mean-” Lance huffs. “I was wondering if you would come on a little trip with me. Just for tonight.”

Allura’s eyes narrow. That’s suspicious. In the past month, Allura has come to realize Lance has a…reputation of sorts.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Lance. We both have a great deal to do and-”

“I…I didn’t mean anything, Allura. There’s something I want to share with you.”

Allura regarded him carefully. There was something earnest in those blue eyes.  _ Blue eyes.  _ Allura shivered. She wasn’t sure if she could ever look at blue eyes the same way again. But that earnestness managed to slip through the cracks.

“Very well. When?” Lance’s face lit up so brightly, she couldn’t help but smile a tiny bit. Just a bit.

“Now.”

“What, now? In this?” Allura plucks at her floor length dress. Her princess dress.

“If you’re worried about it, you can change. I’ll wait. It might get messed up…” Allura looks down at the dress. It’s old, and worn, and unless she shape-shifts, it doesn’t fit quite right anymore. Too tight in her shoulders and arms, too loose in her chest and hips. She doesn’t even wear it to meetings most of the time. Usually, she wears her armor. The only real reason she still has it was because she hadn’t the heart to get rid of it yet. She wears it when she’s homesick.

“No, it’s fine. Let’s just get this over with.” So she can rest. Preferably somewhere without a view of the desert.

Lance leads her to Red and they leave.

…

“Allura, you will not like all of the planets you must deal with as Queen. You won’t even like all of the  _ peoples _ you will have to deal with.”

“But Father, Daibazaal is such a wasteland. It’s all desert!” Allura complained, watching the last of the rain (a rare occurrence on this planet) roll off the Red Lion.

“Not always,” Alfor whispered, putting a hand on her far shoulder. She barely reached his hips. They stopped at the edge of a moonlit oasis. “Watch.”

As Allura furrowed her brows at the scraggly red plants, she saw tiny blue spots appear all along the stems. The blue spots burst open before her young eyes into small, delicate blue flowers.

“Oh, goodness!” Allura exclaimed in a thrilled whisper.

“Wait. It gets better,” her father murmured back, taking her hand.

Within minutes, moths began to crawl from the cracks and crevices of the red stone earth. They spread their glorious pink and blue wings, fluttering feverishly amongst the flowers.

“Understand, Allura. All life is precious. All life is beautiful. And no matter how flawed, all life is worth your consideration and notice.”

…

Lance blacks the screen out over the ocean.

“What are you doing?” Allura asks in suspicion.

“Don’t wanna spoil the surprise. And stop freaking out, Princess. I think you’ll like this.” Allura feels a twinge of guilt at the hurt in Lance’s voice. She’s being too harsh. But the revelation that Lance  _ hadn’t  _ been all talk had come swift and almost cruel. He no longer seems entirely harmless.

Lace closes his eyes so he can continue flying. There’s the finest of lines between his eyebrows, Allura realizes, the slightest hints of crinkles at the downward turns of his mouth. They contrast harshly with the smile wrinkles at the outward corners of his eyes. Lance has, she realizes, likely been most changed by the war.

Lance finally lands and lowers the exit ramp. He turns to her with a glitter of excitement.

“Come on, Princess. I want to show you something beautiful!”

Allura takes his offered arm and follows him outside.

…

“Come, Allura. There is beauty here I wish to show you.” Allura was on board until Alfor lowered Red’s exit ramp instead of simply sitting in the cockpit.

“Father,  _ please _ ! It’s freezing!”

“Yes, it needs to be this cold to see such a phenomenon, my dear.” Alfor seemed untroubled by the cold, but Allura shivered even beneath her coat.

Her father smiled and held out an arm and Allura took it, snuggling close to her father as they walked down the ramp.

There was snow on the ground. Snow on the tall, widespread trees. And, drifting lazily through the air, were the tiniest of snowflakes. They fell and swirled, near weightless. The size of dust motes, they made the air glitter like it was full of diamond dust.

“Some of these trees are over twenty thousand years old,” Alfor whispered, holding her close. “They are sacred. The people of Lodaris live below the ground or in homes of ice and snow, choosing to surround themselves in cold rather than destroy these magnificent lives. And these trees are doubly important. They can bear edible fruits. They provide homes for the animals that live here. Their leaves have medicinal properties. Allura, my child, these trees are the lifeblood of the entire planet.”

Allura looked up at a monumental tree, sparkling in the frozen dust falling from the skies.

“Allura, you must be this tree. You are the source of life for our people. More than that, you are their monument. Their symbol of hope, even in a bleak world.”

…

The sun is not yet down, hanging low in the sky, a conflagration of oranges and reds. Beneath their feet is a stretch of white sand. They are surrounded by lush greenery and tall mounds of rock. In the distance, she can see mountains. To their left is the sea. Allura hears it before she sees it and Lance gently, cautiously lays his hand over hers.

“Come on,” he murmurs. “You’ll want to see this. I’ve been wanting to see it again since I left this place behind.”

“You’ve seen…whatever it is before?”

“Only once, but it’s the right time for it, so we should be good.” Lance hesitated. “I know you don’t like the desert-”

“No, no. The desert is-”

“I don’t care for it either.” Allura shut her mouth, walking arm in arm with Lance. “I’ve spent most of my life in Arizona, but I was born in Cuba. Cuba…Is an island. It’s lush and green with mountains and blue oceans and rain. It’s just so different from the desert that sometimes it drives me crazy to miss it.”

Lance guides her to the wet sand. To where it gets sticky and clings to their (now bare) feet and ankles, washing away and sticking back on with the fringes of the waves. Tiny flecks cling to Allura’s skirts and she makes herself just a touch taller so they won’t drag through the sand. Lance doesn’t seem at all bothered by her sudden height. She’s pleased in a strange way.

“You’re an immigrant,” Allura whispers. “You long for a home that you cannot return to.”

“No, I have returned. Finally,” Lance whispers back. “This…” Lance gestured to their surroundings. “This is my home. Welcome to Cuba, Allura.”

…

The planet was nothing but rock and stormy weather. Leathery winged things drifted lazily through the blackened sky, seemingly untroubled by the miserable climate. Dark plant life crawled limply along the slippery yet somehow sharp black ground.

Where there wasn’t rain, there was magma, crawling sluggishly over the ground until the cold rain froze it in place. It burst from a range of volcanoes wrapped around the planet like a belt.

The sea was rough and tumultuous, filled with prey for the winged things and massive, horrid monsters that rose up out of the waters to plucked them out of the sky.

It was the worst place Allura had ever seen. Her father seemed untroubled.

The people were amphibious. They wore no clothes but adorned themselves with shells and gemstones and teeth. Their skin was mottled blues and greens. Their olive gray eyes had horizontal pupils. They had gills, but also a primitive lung.

One, dressed in a comparatively large number of gemstones, smiled a smile full of rows of needle-like teeth.

“Welcome to Planet Krakao, King Alfor and Princess Allura. I am Chief Rokidi. We welcome you to our ancestral home.” Chief Rokidi spread his arms wide, beholding them to the planet. There was pride in his strange eyes as he gestured to his home world. To them, Allura realized, this was the most beautiful place in the universe. This place was their home and they took pride in it. Allura gave a curtsey.

“We are honored to behold your planet. We thank you for welcoming us to your home,” she said, and Chief Rokidi looked overjoyed.

…

“This is the first time you’ve been here since you left?” Lance nods. Allura stares at him, eyes wide. “And you brought me?”

“I thought you’d like it,” Lance whispers. “And…You’ve shared everything you could with us. With me. So I wanted to share something with you. Something of mine.” Lance sits on the sand, and Allura follows, the water drifting up and past them before receding again, reaching forward to grab them before giving up and letting them sink further into the sand. It plays with Allura’s skirt just as the sea breeze plays with their hair.

“When I was a small kid, maybe eight, we used to come here and swim. See that outcropping?” Lance points and Allura nods. “We used to jump off the top and into the water. Worried my mamá to tears. I was…I was born too early, you see. I almost didn’t make it. I couldn’t even really breath on my own…” Allura’s heart stops. “So my mamá, she worried about me more than the others.”

“You never told us that,” Allura whispers, a small tremble in her voice as she looks up at that sun-kissed face. The soft smile, blue eyes that look so warm gazing out over the blue lagoon in the dying light.

“It’s just one of those things that happens sometimes,” Lance says with a shrug.

…

The day Queen Melinor passed was one of the worst days of Allura’s life. Her mother labored for days, struggling to bring Allura’s far-to-early sibling into the world. Allura had honestly expected them to pull through, for her to be greeted with her new infant sibling any minute. Their technology was so advanced she couldn’t see another outcome. But it wasn’t to be…

A movement later, as was tradition, the bodies were cremated, the ashes scattered in the sea. Her baby brother hadn’t lived long enough to see the world.

Coran had an arm around her shoulders. Zarkon had an arm around Alfor’s. Honverva had elected not to attend, apparently unwell.

“It’s just one of those things that happens sometimes,” some citizen whispered.

Princess Allura clenched her young fists. They were right, to be sure. But why did it have to happen to her, to her family?

Later, in the dead of night, beneath two full moons, Allura found her father staring up at the stars. His aging face was streaked with tears. She had never seen him weep before.

She had no tears to shed. She felt too empty. And besides, if Alfor had to weep, then Allura had to be strong.

As Princess Allura assumed her mother’s duties, those words echoed on and on in a loop in her mind.

_ It’s just one of those things that happens sometimes. _

…

“It’s almost time,” Lance whispers. “Watch the water.”

They sit in peaceful silence as the world sinks lazily into darkness. Lance seems content here, at ease. At home.

Above them, the stars are winking into view. The moon hangs full and heavy in the sky, casting her glow over the waves. The salty air is cool on Allura’s face, her skin.

Allura turns her gaze to Lance. The boy born of the sea. The boy who almost wasn’t. He smiles out at the ocean, blue eyes warm and sparkling, hair messy and windswept. A few freckles grace his cheekbones, a sign of his life under the sun. Allura catches herself randomly wondering if he has more on his shoulders. He probably does.

She follows his gaze, looking out over the darkening waves. Some flippered creature, graceful and smooth, leaps out of the water, its infant only a moment behind.

“Did you see that?” Lance whispers excitedly.

“I did! What was it?”

“A dolphin. They’re really smart.” Another leaps out of the water. “They live and travel in groups, just like people!” They sit in silence for a moment.

“I really do love it here,” Lance whispers.

Allura smiles as another dolphin breaks the surface of the water, shattering the reflection of the moon. She’s beginning to love it here too.

…

“Princess?”

“Yes, Coran?”

“Do you…Do you think we’ll ever feel at home somewhere? Altea is…is gone. I just don’t know what we’ll do next.”

It was in these rare moments of vulnerability that Allura felt closest to her advisor.

“I don’t know. Lance says I’m always welcome at ‘shat-toe day Lance’, whatever that means, so that’s something, I suppose.” Allura gazed out at the expanse of stars above them on Arus. They would be leaving in just a few hours. “But he talks of his home planet often. Of beaches and forests and deserts and tundras. He says it’s beautiful there. When he talks about it, it sounds beautiful.”

Coran sat down next to her on the moss-covered ground.

“He seems a nice fellow, if a little…strange. We talk a great deal.”

“That’s one word for it,” Allura scoffs. “I hope he’s right. I hope we’ll be welcome there. Just to be welcome. I like these paladins, even if they aren’t particularly strong…” Allura plucks a flower from the moss. “What do you and Lance talk about?”

“Home. He misses his home, the same as we miss ours. They all do.”

“Well, I guess we can all be homesick together, then.” It wasn’t much, but it was something. Allura stared up at the moonless Arusian sky.

“Coran?”

“Yes, Princess?”

“Lance tells me Earth has a moon.” She paused. “It sounds really nice.”

…

“Let me know when you see it,” Lance whispers.

“See what?”

“You’ll know. Just watch the water.”

It’s only a few minutes before she realizes what he means. In the dimming light, the water is beginning to glow a pale blue, the exact same color as-

“Quintessence?” she gasps.

“No,” Lance chuckles, getting up and easing her to her feet. He takes her hand and guides her a little further into the surf, almost up to her knees.

“It’s a type of plankton. A microscopic lifeform. They didn’t always used to be in Cuba, but about a century ago, they started showing up here. No one knows how or why for sure. But they don’t seem to hurt anything and I’m certainly not complaining.”

The clouds of light drift around Lance’s ankles and Allura’s skirts, now heavy with the salt water. She can’t help but give a soft laugh at the sheer surreal beauty of it all.

The moon reflects on the glowing water. It reflects on their hair and on their skin, on their still joined hands. It reflects in Lance’s eyes as he smiles at her.

“It’s beautiful,” Allura whispers, working her toes into the soft sand. “Oh, I can see how you’ve missed this place, Lance!”

Lance lifts her hand, leading her into a spin. Unaccustomed to moving in water, she almost falls. Lance goes with it, gripping her hand so their arms stretch, then pulls her back in with another turn, careful to maintain a respectful distance. He’s smiling, happy she’s enjoying something he enjoys.

The moon shines white on his brown hair and the blue glow of the water reflects on his cheekbones and in his eyes and for the briefest of moments, Lance almost looks Altean.

Allura shifts her gaze away, up to the moon.

“You love the moon so much, don’t you. You told me about it once.”

“Yeah,” Lance says, moving to stand next to her. “In my more…we’ll say carefree days? I used to tell girls that the moon was my one true love.” Allura laughs. She can’t help it.

“I know, right?” he continues. “Not the worst thing I’ve ever said, but it’s still pretty bad. But…in some ways, it is. The moon is…It’s everything. It’s so big and bright and important. Religions have been built around our moon. One of my favorite old gods-well, goddesses-was the moon. Artemis. She was this badass archer who was sworn to purity.” Lance trails a foot through the starry water. “The moon makes the tides too. The waves. The ebb and flow, push and pull. It’s all her doing.”

“Sounds like you are in love with the moon!” Allura laughs. “How could a girl ever compete with that?!”

“Well it would take one heck of a lady, obviously,” Lance says with a grin.

A little while later, as they walk back to the Red Lion, Lance begins to speak again.

“’Twas noontide of summer,

And mid-time of night;

And stars, in their orbits,

Shone pale, thro’ the light

Of the brighter, cold moon,

Mid planets her slaves,

Herself in the Heavens,

Her beam on the waves.

I gaz’d awhile

On her cold smile;

Too cold-too cold for me-

There pass’d, as a shroud,

A fleecy cloud,

And I turn’d away to thee,

Proud Evening Star,

In thy glory afar,

And dearer thy beam shall be;

For joy to my heart

Is the proudest part

Thou bearest in Heav’n at night,

And more I admire

Thy distant fire,

Than that colder, lowly light.”

Allura inches just a little closer, and they walk with the moon at their backs.


End file.
